Pumpkins, changing leaves, sweaters, and boots, these are a few off my favorite things. Living where I do in San Diego, we don’t have a drastic change of seasons and sometimes we get a little summer and spring mixed in with our fall. I’ve been really craving that cozy fall feeling after having so many hot summer days. So, I decided to take control of what I could and make it feel like fall inside my home. I also wanted to stick to a tight budget, so I turned to trusty Pinterest and searched my house for things I already had that I could use.

After a little research, I decided make a few simple things:

Fall candles

Free fall printables

DIY door wreath

Fall Candles

Items needed: acorns, sticks, mason jars/old candle containers, hot glue gun, candles. I had all of these laying around my house so this cost me $0.

I saw many pictures on Pinterest of acorns and candles together, so I thought that was an easy place to start. I went outside and collected a ton of acorns that had fallen from the many oak trees around my house. Oak trees don’t feel like fall, but acorns do! I put them in mason jars I had been saving that were once spaghetti sauce jars, and placed a candle I had laying around the house inside. It was great for a couple days until I noticed some mold growing at the bottom of my jars – gross! So, I went back to Pinterest and did a little more research. I learned that you need to bake the acorns first so it sucks all of the moisture out and also kills any small bugs that may have gotten inside.

I washed all of the acorns off and detached their tops at the same time, pat them dry, put them on a foil lined baking sheet, and let them sit for about an hour. Then, I preheated the oven to 350°F, put the baking sheet in when it was warm, and let them bake for approximately 30 minutes, stirring them once to make sure they were all even. After they all cooled off, I took a hot glue gun to each of the tops I had taken off, and stuck them on an acorn that seemed to fit.

The stick candle holder was a lot easier! I gathered sticks outside and broke them into pieces, then hot glued them to a glass that used to have a candle inside that I had burned down and washed out. I knew I’d find a use for all of those old candle holders I’d been saving!

Free Fall Printables

Items needed: computer access, printer access, and some frames. Again, I had all of these items at home so this also cost me $0.

I didn’t take a picture of the exact printables I used, but I found a ton online by searching “free fall printables” and decided to use use picture frames I already had at home. I will keep the printables in the frames until the season is over, then reuse them for something else!

DIY Door Wreath

Items needed: metal wreath form (with pipe cleaners already attached), 1-2 rolls of burlap, and any flowers or other decor you’d like to add. I got all of these at Michael’s and my total was around $26.

This really was easier than I ever could have imagined! I looked on youtube for “DIY burlap wreath with form”. There are a ton of videos to look at. Most of them start with having you twist all of the wire or pipe cleaners onto the frame but since I bought a frame with the pipe cleaners already attached, I got to skip that step!

It’s as easy as bunching the burlap up and securing it in place with the pipe cleaners. I used 2 rolls of burlap because I wanted to have 2 colors. They were both 4″ wide and I basically went through with the natural colored burlap and then went back through on top with the rust colored burlap. There was plenty of space on the pipe cleaner to twist around both layers. I was able to just slide the flower and fall decor stems into the secured pipe cleaners instead of hot gluing them on. The possibilities are endless with this because there are many colors and sizes to choose from and different flowers, wood signs, ribbon etc. to attach.

I hope you get a chance to decorate your home for the holidays and found this helpful. Comment below with questions or your experience with DIY decor and remember, there’s always, always, ALWAYS something to be grateful for. Happy Fall!